Reading Between the Lines of the Miami Dolphins

Queasy Quote of the week

Queasy Quote of the week

And then they scratch their heads. Realize how wrong he is. Yawn. Ignore him. And, in some rare cases, they give him a job extension worth more than $3 million per year.

I’m starting a new feature here where I’ll take something that Clueless Joe says after a game and analyze it.

Sometimes it will be funny. Sometimes it will be sad. Often it will be wrong. And most certainly it will be frustrating.

So here we go… On the Joe Philbin show Monday, the coach was asked about what changes need to be made. Philbin then said why he is against making changes:

“Once you start altering things a great deal, you’re sending a message that what we’re doing isn’t the right thing.”

And there you have it. Joe Philbin feels he has already been doing the right thing, and God forbid we change something that is going right. He feels the Dolphins are doing all the right things, so alterations are not called for.

Can’t make this stuff up folks.

He actually said those words. I almost choked on my Buffalo wings when I heard it. But sadly…but unfortunately…I did hear it.

We ALL heard it. I’m sure the poor Dolphin players heard it as well.

He actually is opposed to change, because that would stray from the the “right thing” that’s been occurring this season.

In the upside-down world of Joe Philbin, the Dolphins have done all the rights things so far this year, so no tweaks are needed.

41 Comments

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As if on cue, our simple friends over at the Phinsider today had a blog about “Change is needed for the Miami Dolphins.”
Number one,…No shit!
Number two….Change is NOT coming because Clueless Joe won’t change anything when things are going so well for us. The Phinsiders really need to read Dolphins Truth more often.

I both times tried to tell the Miami Dolphins would lose to Jacksonville and get their ass handed to them by Buffalo, that they needed to get Tim Teabow before these loses,but they would not listen so, all you Dolphins fans,this season is over already and fan support will be so bad that the dolphins will be considering moving and will be up for sale. The change is coming Miami, the dolphins are moving. Why Tim Teabow? Because he has a purpose in the NFL and what better team than the Miami Dolphins to fulfill that purpose? Look out Don Shula, your undefeated record will be challenge again this year by ?

I understand your frustration but I doubt Ross would spend hundreds of millions on Stadium renovations just to move the team. And others will argue but Ive now read twice that Ross was a Miami fan growing up , I know he lives in New York but surprisingly that state has a large contingent of dolphins fans. But you are right about lack of fan support might just force Ross’s hand if he cant get a decent return on his investment. For the short term I feel the Dolphins will remain right where they are.

Tebow? Honestly I just so wish he would convert to Tight End or Full back and give up on being a Quarterback. He is such a talented athlete in that regard but below average as a quarterback.

I agree Tim Tebow is a very talented athlete for the NFL and Miami Dolphin fans will have had enough when they see their team getting blown out several of their games this year and be the worst team in the NFL again. Top players will not want to play for Miami, so yeah, the change is coming.

I would love to know what a fly on the wall of the Dolphins locker-room would hear. This team is far too talented to be playing this bad. Even with its deficiencies. This is not the 1-15 Scam Cameron team from 2007 by far. All sides of the ball are under performing badly. I wonder if the players are revolting like was mentioned by BigJ in another thread.

Players revolted against JJ and Dan Marino and games were thrown. They did it to Sparano, too. They’re doing it again…it’s the only way to get Regis fired.
Tannehill is NOT the guy. Look at the touch pass from Tyrod Taylor to Hogan…perfect arc, perfect placement…a confident throw under pressure. Tannehill overthrows that by 10 yards. The players know this and part of the revolt is about Tannehill.

Dolphin fans are going to send a big message to owner Stephen Ross, when there will be very little fan support to watch the dolphins and him having to pay all those high salaries to a bad football team , he will lose his ass and investments causing him to sale the team just maybe to break even and everyone else who are invested in the Miami Dolphins.

Sorry for the rant yesterday I was just a tad upset. But I just had an epiphany today that I feel is worth sharing about Philbin. And the funny thing is that its been a fact staring us right in the face the whole time but I dont think anybody has ever noticed it before. Its this;

Every time we have a loss and reporters ask why in the post game conference we hear Philbin say “we have to take a look at the tape.” We’ve all heard this over and over before . My observation is this. How in the heck do you not know what went wrong during the game? If your so blind while standing on the sideline that you need to watch what happened afterward to wrap your head around the problem then that lack of awareness is the PROBLEM! And by extension Philbin basically admits he has no idea in game whats going wrong and must review tape to determine but still not correct the problem.

Earth to Philbin your a Coach not an analyst. Its your job to monitor and adjust on the fly not blindly implement a prepared game plan when its obviously not at all working.

“We have to take a look at the tape” is code for “I’m not gonna answer your question right now because I am totally unaware that as an NFL coach, I’m supposed to know what I’m doing but I don’t and it’s pretty obvious to anyone that watches other football games that I think my team is engineering a mutiny because I suck as a leader and my QB is really just an average college wide receiver that we paid a buttload of money because his title says he’s a QB and we thought the money would make him throw better.” DERP!

Couldn’t agree more on all counts. Paying 96 mil for 17 was a sad joke for all concerned.And most of all for us long suffering fans. This franchise needs a TOTAL makeover from top to bottom,including clueless Ross. I was going to London on Friday but I have given my ticket away to a friend who is going to the game. I hate losing what I prepaid for my hotel but simply cannot make the effort any longer. I’ve been a fan since the franchise was awarded in 1965 but I am at an end now. I will no longer drive from Ft Myers to watch them and have already sold a few games from my season ticket. I will continue to watch-and suffer-until this current regime is a distant memory and this franchise is finally headed in the right direction. But I’m 64 and I MAY NEVER see that happen!

PhinsUp! That is exactly the problem with Philbin. The game moves to fast for him to make adjustments. That is why when he does make them it happens when there is an extended break in play, like halftime. The team made the adjustments in the second half of both of the first games and some of those adjustments surprisingly worked to some degree. But to be a successful coach you need to make in game adjustments from play to play or series to series and not stubbornly hold onto a game plan when it is clearly not working.

So I think we’ve cracked the secret about why each game seems to be a tale of 2 halves. Philbin needs halftime to adjust to what was happening in the 1st half. If this really is true then he is, and I mean this respectfully but, he’s handicapped as a coach. This explains the slow starts = no in game adjustments and poor game planning. Explains the head scratching time outs= needs time to think about it for a minute or get advice from others observing the game. Explains late season collapses like well you know when the playoffs are on the line. Teams are either playing us to get in or to spoil our chances and thus are playing with much more urgency. Adjusting at the half is as bad as adjusting after the game is already lost. Hes coaching like he’s a PFF analyst and not going with his gut or the feel of the moment. Like you know when we had Green Bay on the ropes or when Detroit fooled us with a fake punt and then almost did the same again later? Its not necessarily about his ability or knowledge, its his style and its not a fit for an HC. Look I love football but Im 175 pounds and cant run fast at all and my body fat ratio isnt exactly hinting that more of my weight is from muscle. So Im not gonna fool myself and tryout next year for running back. I accept that. Can Philbin and or Ross accept that for all of his skill he simply isnt stylistically cut out to be an effective HC any more than Dallas Thomas is for offensive line?

No doubt Jay there is plenty of blame to go around and I for one am not letting either Tannehill or Lazor off the hook. But one of them wasnt running for his life and had the safety of the sidelines to come up with a solution. Tannehill was obviously rattled, the defense got into his head at times making him loose synch with the game. But I am seeing better pocket presence from him as he was only sacked once. Im not at all saying his presence is good but its getting better then in years past. And I understand your feelings about Matt Moore I wanted him as our QB too when T-hill was drafted. But understand Matt Moore is now older and far removed from all the games/experience he gained when Chad Spaghetti Arms Henne went down. I feel at this time Tannehill has surpassed him for the most part with the exception of the deep ball. Moore definitely can do that better then Tannehill. Just watch last pre season when he hit Matt Hazel for that perfectly thrown 50 yard bomb.

I don’t think anyone but Jay considers the Bills defense to be among the worst in the NFL, but I can’t argue about Washington nor Jacksonville.
It comes down to Philbin stubbornly (there is no other word) refusing to change his formations. The same 5 linemen over and over and over again with no help so that 4 or 5 WRs can go run around the field and have Tannehill get sacked before they can even turn to watch.

Admin agreed, I read your game plan and I liked it. Is that more on Lazor or Philbin though? Probably the latter sigh..
I mean its painfully obvious Fox is a turnstyle. So yeah dont give him any help just let him keep being a liability and danger to your QB. That such a monumental game plan for disaster that it makes Cam Cameron oooze with jealousy.

The fact that Brenden Albert is damaged goods AND fragile is a blow. We will never get what we paid for there-hopefully I’m wrong but not paying the dosh for Evan Mathis was a huge mistake. He would have alleviated at least 1 hole in the the sieve,also known as the offensive line. Offensive is a perfect name for it BTW. Imagine if Pouncey goes down!

Ha…who needs Brendan Albert when we can waste a FIRST-found pick on a great offensive lineman like Davante Parker. So so so so much need on the offensive line, and we draft a hotshot skill player #1. We should traded down and gotten 3 extra picks and spent each one on linemen. Someone would have shined.

At least Tyrod has some experience, paid his dues under Joe Flacco, has a Super Bowl ring under John Harbaugh, and can’t be called a rookie bum. Unlike fellows like Thad Lewis and EJ Manuel, both of whom couldn’t be stopped by Joe Philbin

Ross isn’t moving the team he is making plenty of money despite putting out a crap on the field product. A worse owner you will never find….. but theTV money they get makes them profitable after expenses without one fan attending one game or selling one beer or souvenir

I think the problem is he still more or less a hands off owner. Wants to hire people to run the team for him and I guess thats the lesser of 2 evils cause its obvious Ross knows little about football. I feel however Ross is slowly becoming more hands on and I’ve seen more of a strong tone in the way he’s been asserting himself lately. Hes spending 400 million of his own money to update the stadium and is spending a ton of money on draft picks to make the phins a winner. Problem is he keeps putting trust in the wrong people but I cant get too mad at him for being clueless in a world in which he is in fact clueless. Cant get mad at a short person for not being taller if you get what I mean. But his efforts show he wants a winner and for all of his shortcomings I dont feel he will retain Philbin for another year if we fail to win 10 games. New updated stadium in 2017 might as well update the coaching staff too.

I don’t blame Ross for being short, in your analogy. But if a short guy hired a man to oversee his growth, and after three years he was even shorter…I would fire that man.
Ross would extend his contract.

Ross is not such a hands off owner. It was widely reported that it was him that drafted Tannebum and him that made Philbin get rid of Sherman. It was also him that tried to hire a HC before firing one! LOL

Jay I didnt mean it like that . I understand he makes decisions from time to time. But for the most part hes not in the office daily and I highly doubt he makes daily contact with the leadership of the front office. In essence he’s not a micromanaging type of owner ala Jerry Jones for the sake of contrast.

Remember- Philbin only replaced Mike Sherman after Joe was threatened with his own job. It was painfully clear to everyone that Mike and his son in law were stunting the growth of our young QB, but Joe insisted that Mike Sherman was “The Right Man for the Job.” Sound familiar??

Now, Bill Lazor comes in preaching an “up temp offense” but has yet to deliver one iota of it. He calls plays the same way an 8th grader plays Madden- pass 80%, run 20%. I’m sorry, but if you are inside the 5 yard line, there is no reason not to run the ball 4 straight times if need be.

Our staff reminds me a lot of Denny’s when I was in high school and college- no every chooses to go Denny’s, you just end up there. Just like these half-steppers- we didn’t really choose them, it’s what we ended up with because they were the only one to apply.

As for the players revolting issue- no player is going to come out and say his coach is in idiot, because that player will have a very short career. Agents just won’t let it happen, and rightfully so. What you will see if tackling efforts (or lack thereof) like what happened on Clay’s td- whiffs and half hearted dives, no break down, no stick your grill in there and bring him down.

You will also see “free lancing” similar to we’ve heard about. Suh is no dummy- he knows 2 things:

1) He’s not going anywhere, at least for the first 3 years

2) Our coaches are fools and couldn’t coach their way out of a wet paper bag.

He probably know what a troll this idiot Jay is, but he’s keeping it to himself.

The point is, Philbin is incapable of change, unless that change is crammed down his throat, like firing Mike Sherman was. Wasn’t Carl Peterson in Ross’ ear at some point? Certainly between him and Tannenbaum, someone must be telling Ross just bad things really are.

Is it bad to want my favorite team in the entire universe to lose, if it means that we are one step closer to ridding ourselves of steaming pile that is our coaching staff? Sorry guys, but that’s where I am right now….

So so true. And only a team like ours can actually get better talent but play worse proportionally. After this season we will be begging for our 8-8 seasons to return. And yeah why the f*ck hell is Sherman’s son still the QB coach? The apple never falls far from the tree . Lazor was the QB coach for Philly . And should have some expertise in the matter right? Isnt Lazor atleast allowed to even speak of his evaluation of of our QB coach and possibly suggest a change in either the coaching technique or bring in someone else? Dont get me wrong Tannehill is progressing but at times it seems as if hes regresses at the worst time and still fails to lead.

Finally hows our new DL line coach from the Raiders working out? Terrell Williams? Oh yeah Bowles took our previous D-Line coach when he took the HC job for the Jets. I dont hear anybody bitching about him … why the heck not? Seems like Suh’s rep gets him a pass for any coaching/correction and the rest of the line is taking games off thinking Suh will make up for their lack of effort. Seems plausible anyway.

When you get a team either uninspired or poorly coached they will regress into drones never giving any extra effort. Secure they wont loose their starting job because even as ineffective as their play is , they are the best option. Playing the game with thoughts of their post game social life only interested in their nice fat paychecks and nothing else. Not a single player with the hopes and dreams that the glory of victory in the NFL can bring. Taking on the sad identity of their oppressed fan base tortured year after year with the sad realization that glory, respect, and pride, are luxuries other teams enjoy year after year. And the rest of us are just monetarily exploited fans fattening the wallets of the same con artists from last year.

While we love our team called the Dolphins we are more like the Miami Rats dwelling at the bottom of the basement once again. There needs to be a grassroots movement galvanizing all Phins fans demanding change/improvement. I have some internet skills and run my own website and could start another with some kind of online petition. Hear that Admin? Maybe and idea for you. Im tired of just bitching in the wind and want mine and every other frustrated fan’s words to have effect and meaning and send this vitriol straight to the top in a very public way.

I’ve been saying it for two years…the fans need to revolt. SHOW UP FOR THE GAME AND LEAVE AT EXACTLY 9 minutes 11 seconds into the game. You are all witnessing the death of a franchise and nobody will do a damn thing about it en masse. Boycott the games. So you paid for a ticket…so what? Take a stand!

That’s a cool idea juan. A despereate call for for help as illustrated by leaving at 9:11 into the game. And showing what’s in store by the empty seats and cossesion sales slump. If I had just spent 400 million that would surely make me cough cough queasy as an owner. Juan lets keep kicking that idea around.

I don’t know how long anyone on here has been a Dolphin fan-I grew up going to games at the Orange Bowl, so I yearn for what we had in the great years of this franchise. The drought for a winning team has been far too long. I’m sorry that as a fan I have to admit I do not want a win this week; I’m frustrated beyond belief that year after year there has been no difference…..though we are all told every year that this team is the best one yet. Therefore, I see no other solution but for Ross to clean out the house! Everyone has to go! Can’t keep anyone from the former regime. New coach who will hire his coaches etc. This lackluster team that has been a continuous carousel of average results at best. The fans all gave Philbin a chance at HC, but it’s just not the job for his persona. He’s trying to do this job, but does not have the football mind for it. I’m tired of Ross being a dumb owner- can he just sell the team! Uncle Warren (as in Buffet) was at the game wearing a Suh jersey on the sidelines, he’s at least got some fan in him! I’m fed up, disgusted and want to see major changes. Ross is also a part of the problem-he shouldn’t be an owner to begin with! If we lose on Sunday, fire Philbn Monday, we have a Bye week and they can prepare the team and figure out an interim head coach. Sounds like that would be a step in the right direction.

It’s plain to see that this is mutiny. These players are not stupid; they know they have no chance with this coaching staff in place, and they are showing it on the field. They will no longer play for Philbin. Keep in mind this is largely the same team that whooped the Cheatriots, had the Packers beat (before Phailbin blew it), had the Lions beat (before Phailbin blew it), and had the Broncos beat (before Phailbin blew it) last season. Remember Odrick screaming at Phailbin on the sideline last season? The players are not as stupid as their coach, and they have clearly had enough!